Donald F Tanney

Voter turnout more than tripled, reaching 69%, in the first-ever consolidation of city and general elections on Nov. 6, according to final figures released by the county registrar of voters. More than 9,000 of the 13,239 registered voters in the city went to the polls this month, compared to only 22% during the last municipal election in April, 1988. It was shortly after the 1988 vote that the City Council decided to consolidate city elections with the general election in November.

The Mission Viejo Co. should be listed as a major campaign contributor to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley because the firm bought a full-page newspaper ad praising Riley and its Aliso Viejo development project after the recall campaign against Riley had begun, a key recall proponent asserted Monday. Such a listing would prohibit Riley from voting on matters affecting the Mission Viejo Co., developer of the Aliso Viejo project. County Registar Donald F.

Orange County's GOP chairman said Friday that he had agreed to use party funds to hire Election Day observers at polls in the 72nd Assembly District, but that the chief consultant to the district's Republican candidate decided that those observers should be uniformed guards. Controversy erupted Tuesday when the guards showed up at 7 a.m.

The 7-member Hispanic Legislative Caucus in Sacramento on Thursday labeled as "vigilantism" the Orange County Republican Party's use of uniformed security guards on Election Day at 20 Santa Ana precincts where there are heavily Latino populations. "This type of action tends to undermine the integrity of our election system," said Assemblyman Peter R. Chacon (R-San Diego), chairman of the caucus. County GOP Chairman Thomas A.

Orange County voters turned out in moderate numbers this morning, attracted by a variety of ballot measures including a proposed countywide sales tax increase for transportation and a controversial initiative that would limit gay rights in Irvine. A sampling of precincts showed a 6% voter turnout throughout the county as of 11 a.m., one of the highest in a nonpresidential election, said Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney. The heaviest rush of voting is expected from 5 to 8 p.m., he said.

Supporters of the countywide slow-growth initiative defeated last June were outspent by $2.7 million to $106,294, according to a mandatory political finance report filed two months after the statutory deadline by the proponents' campaign committee. The report, filed last Friday by Citizens for Sensible Growth and Traffic Control, shows that nearly 25% of the money was spent to keep the initiative on the ballot during a pre-election court challenge by the Building Industry Assn.

Nov. 8 will be the first anniversary of an Orange County election that drew an embarrassing amount of national attention. It was, unfortunately, an Election Day whose reverberations still linger. When the polls opened that day, reports circulated of uniformed guards posted at 20 Santa Ana precincts in the 72nd Assembly District, scene of one of the hottest battles in the state.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney said Tuesday that he will ask the district attorney to investigate whether former sheriff's candidate Bonnie Rae Streeter lied about her qualifications to gain a place on the June 7 ballot. The action comes after Streeter's name was removed from the ballot last week by an unprecedented court order in which she was found to be lacking basic law-enforcement experience as required under state law. Streeter could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a suburban Glendale furniture store, voters sat in spanking new La-Z-Boy recliners waiting their turn. A block from a flash point of the spring riots in South-Central Los Angeles, a dozen voters crammed into a tiny living room, biding their time until a voting booth came open.

Petition language for recall drives against Orange County Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Thomas F. Riley has been approved by the registar of voters. Recall proponents, many of them slow-growth activists angry over Wieder's and Riley's support of development agreements, now have until Dec. 13 to collect the signatures necessary to place the recalls on the ballot. In the Wieder recall drive, the signatures of 20,651 voters, 10% of those registered in her district, are required.